Authors/Aristotle/priora/Liber 2/C18

Chapter 18

Greek	Latin	English
	(PL 64 0705A) CAPUT XX. De falsa ratiocinatione, catasyllogismo, hoc est corratiocinatione, et elencho.	18
66a16 Ὁ δὲ ψευδὴς λόγος γίνεται παρὰ τὸ πρῶτον ψεῦδος. ἢ γὰρ ἐκ τῶν δύο προτάσεων ἢ ἐκ πλειόνων πᾶς ἐστι συλλογισμός. εἰ μὲν οὖν ἐκ τῶν δύο, τούτων ἀνάγκη τὴν ἑτέραν ἢ καὶ ἀμφοτέρας εἶναι ψευδεῖς· ἐξ ἀληθῶν γὰρ οὐκ ἦν ψευδὴς συλλογισμός. εἰ δ᾽ ἐκ πλειόνων, οἷον τὸ μὲν Γ διὰ τῶν Α Β, ταῦτα δὲ διὰ τῶν Δ Ε Ζ Η, τούτων τι ἔσται τῶν ἐπάνω ψεῦδος, καὶ παρὰ τοῦτο ὁ λόγος· τὸ γὰρ Α καὶ Β δι᾽ ἐκείνων περαίνονται. ὥστε παρ᾽ ἐκείνων τι συμβαίνει τὸ συμπέρασμα καὶ τὸ ψεῦδος.	(0705B) Falsa autem oratio fit propter primum falsum; aut enim ex duabus propositionibus aut ex pluribus omnis est syllogismus; ergo si ex duabus quidem, harum necesse est alteram, aut etiam utrasque esse falsas, nam ex veris non erat falsus syllogismus; si vero ex pluribus (ut sic quidem per A B, hoc autem per D F G ), horum erit aliquid superiorum falsum, et propter hoc oratio, nam A et B per illa concluduntur, quare propter illorum aliquid, accidit conclusio et falsum.	A false argument depends on the first false statement in it. Every syllogism is made out of two or more premisses. If then the false conclusion is drawn from two premisses, one or both of them must be false: for (as we proved) a false syllogism cannot be drawn from two premisses. But if the premisses are more than two, e.g. if C is established through A and B, and these through D, E, F, and G, one of these higher propositions must be false, and on this the argument depends: for A and B are inferred by means of D, E, F, and G. Therefore the conclusion and the error results from one of them.